Gutenprint 5.0.0-rc3 is the third (and hopefully final) release
candidate for Gutenprint 5.0. It incorporates extensive feedback from
earlier release candidates. In addition to the changes listed below,
it now features a Macintosh OS X Universal Binary.
The release may be found at
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1537package_id=143930release_id=418068
MAJOR CHANGES BETWEEN GUTENPRINT 5.0.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE 2 AND
GUTENPRINT 5.0.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE 3:
1) The package now offers explicit support for many more printers.
All printers supported by Gutenprint are now listed explicitly
rather than via the compatibility list. As a result, CUPS PPD
files and Foomatic are now generated for each supported printer.
2) CUPS and Foomatic/IJS now produce correctly dimensioned and
positioned output. Previous pre-releases of Gutenprint 5.0
produced incorrectly dimensioned and/or positioned (offset from
the correct position) output in certain cases. This happened in
the following circumstances:
a) When a printer capable of optional full-bleed or borderless
operation was used in full-bleed/borderless mode, the output
was stretched to fit the expanded dimensions. The result was
that lines of specified lengths were printed slightly longer
than desired, and since the vertical and horizontal stretching
was normally not identical, the output was distorted slightly.
b) When printing directly to a CD, the output was shrunk
horizontally and/or positioned incorrectly by a small amount
(typically a few mm).
c) Depending upon the application doing the printing and the
printer selected, the output was shifted down and to the right
by several mm.
The PPD files and driver have been modified to specify zero
borders in all cases when a printer with borderless capability is
used. If normal (non-borderless) mode is selected, the border is
simply not printed, leaving correct dimensions for everything
within the imageable area. However, as a result of this, the
driver no longer prints true full bleed (overprinting the edge of
the page). The margins are set to zero, and typically there will
be very narrow unprinted margins (less than 1 mm) on one or more
sides.
Printing to CD's works correctly whether or not full bleed mode
is selected.
This change has no effect in the GIMP plugin and in other
applications which directly use Gutenprint, as there was never
any problem in those contexts.
3) The IJS driver now correctly ejects the last page of a job.
Previously it did not always eject the last page with certain
Epson printers.
4) The Epson Stylus Photo R800, R1800, R2400, and related printers
should now print at full speed in all cases. Previously these
printers were extremely slow (about 10 times slower than normal)
in many cases.
Related to this, the list of resolutions offered for these
printers are slightly different from before. Resolutions above
2880x1440 DPI are no longer offered; instead, resolutions of
2880x1440 high quality and 2880x1440 highest quality are offered.
These resolutions use extra passes of the print head to reduce
banding. In addition, these resolutions are actually 1440 DPI
horizontally and 2880 DPI vertically.
5) The HP DeskJet 690 and other supported PCL printers capable of
6-color photo printing (such as the Apollo P-2100 and Apple Color
StyleWriter 4500) no longer result in the driver crashing if
black and white output mode was selected. Also, Canon printers
capable of 6 or 7 color photo printing no longer result in a
crash if black and white output mode is selected.
6) Canon and Lexmark inkjet printers now print if color output mode
is selected with a black and white cartridge installed.
Previously this was not possible in the GIMP plugin; the CUPS and
Foomatic drivers permitted this to be set, but gave a runtime
error when a job with these settings was printed. These printers
now accept the job and simply print it in black and white.
7) The cleaning and nozzle check functions of escputil now work
properly on most printers, and escputil no longer crashes if you
type ctrl-D to a command prompt. In addition, the status printed
via the status command is now much more readable.
8) The color quality for the Epson R300, R800, R2400, and related
printers has been improved.
9) Raw output now works correctly on the Epson R800 and R1800.
10) The Canon driver now handles color and grayscale, and also photo
ink cartridges (previously it sometimes handled these incorrectly
or even crashed). However, many of these printers still do not
print correctly with a photo cartridge installed (the width of
the printout is
